Review Summary: The Kingdom Strikes Back.
Sometimes, a band's greatest challenge isn't surviving changes in the music industry or adapting to a shifting scene. It's rediscovering its own identity after losing its way or after trying too hard to please fans or follow the trend of the moment.
And that, dear reader, is exactly what Back to the Kingdom represents.
Following the disappointing Matters of Survival and the elusive Voodoo Vibes (an album that is virtually impossible to review beacause I can't find it anywhere to stream it). Those who have heard it generally describe it as a confused effort that tried to embrace every late-'90s trend at once, as if the band had finally surrendered to the pressure it had resisted for so many years. Had the Japanese holdout soldier, lost on some remote Pacific island, finally been found?
Back to the Kingdom feels like a genuine return to the band's roots. Even the title makes that clear. It isn't merely a nostalgic reference to the excellent debut album. It is practically a statement of intent. Axxis was coming home.
Fortunately, the return is a successful one. But it would be unfair to dismiss the album as a simple exercise in nostalgia. While the band brings back the huge choruses, Bernhard Weiss' soaring vocals, and the melodic hard rock sound that first put them on the map, something else is quietly happening beneath the surface. The melodies have become slightly more dramatic, and the choruses begin pointing toward the melodic power metal direction that would dominate the band's future releases. Together with its successor, Eyes of Darkness, Back to the Kingdom marks the true beginning of Axxis' second era.
And the best news of all? Someone finally remembered to plug the guitars back in!!
After the anemic production of Matters of Survival, it's a tremendous relief to hear an album that finally sounds at least somewhat heavy again for a hard rock band. The guitars recover much of the weight they had lost, the mix is far more balanced, and the band finally sounds energetic once more. This is by no means a heavy album, but at least it sounds like a hard rock record from the late '80s (which is already an improvement!).
The album's greatest strengths, however, lie in its finest songs.
"Heaven in Black" remains one of the greatest songs Axxis has ever written. It encapsulates everything the band does best in five minutes: inspired verses, a flawless performance from Bernhard Weiss, and a massive chorus that stays with you for days. No wonder is the most popular song on the entire catalog of the band.
"Sea of Love" once again proves that Axxis has always had a remarkable talent for writing outstanding power ballads. The song strikes a rare balance between emotion and taste, never slipping into the kind of excessive sentimentality its title might suggest or that so many bands of the genre embraced.
"White Lights", meanwhile, is perhaps the track that best symbolizes the band's new direction. Its riff already flirts openly with European power metal, while the chorus preserves everything that made Axxis such a melodic force. It's difficult not to hear the blueprint for the band they would become only a few years later.
Then there's the wonderfully entertaining cover of Steam's 1969 hit "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye." Yes, it's a completely unexpected choice (almost like Tardigrade Inferno covering We're Number One). Yes, absolutely nobody asked for it. But somehow, it works. It's impossible not to smile when hearing a German hard rock band transform an old pop hit into a full-blown arena hard rock anthem. Axxis has never been afraid to have fun, and this cover perfectly captures that spirit.
Unfortunately, not everything reaches the same standard. Much like the band's early albums, Back to the Kingdom still struggles to maintain its quality throughout the entire running time. After an excellent opening stretch, several songs settle for being merely competent, lacking the spark of the record's true highlights. They don't ruin the experience, but they do prevent Back to the Kingdom from matching the consistency of The Big Thrill, which remains, in my opinion, the finest album of Axxis' first era.
In the end, however, Back to the Kingdom is far more important than simply being a successful return to form. It represents the moment when Axxis finally rediscovered its identity after two turbulent albums while quietly beginning to build a new one. Melodic hard rock still sits at the heart of the band's sound, but the DNA of European power metal is already unmistakably emerging.
The kingdom had been reclaimed.
The real transformation, however, was only just beginning.
